The Truro Bearcats are a Junior "A"

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...

team based out of

Truro Truro (; kw, Truru) is a cathedral city and civil parish in Cornwall, England. It is Cornwall's county town, sole city and centre for administration, leisure and retail trading. Its population was 18,766 in the 2011 census. People of Truro ...

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

. The Bearcats are one of six

teams in the

Maritime Junior Hockey League The Maritime Junior Hockey League (MHL) is a Junior A ice hockey league under Hockey Canada, a part of the Canadian Junior Hockey League. It consists of five teams from New Brunswick and one team from Prince Edward Island, which make up the E ...

History

Metro Valley League years

Originally, Truro was a member of the Metro Valley Junior Hockey League. The Bearcats won five championships in the MVJHL. Three back to back from 1969-70 to 1971-72. Truro won two more championships in 1973-74 and 1975-76. In 1977 the MVJHL became a Junior "A" league and the Bearcats folded mid season in 1983.

Return of junior hockey

The new franchise of 1997 marked the return of junior hockey to Truro, and the Bearcats return to the MJAHL. The Truro Bearcats were formed in 1997 as a member of the Maritime Jr A Hockey League. The Bearcats have stayed competitive over their franchise history, they have never had a losing record, and have never missed the playoffs. During the 2001 MJAHL Draft, the Bearcats picked 13-year-old minor hockey phenom

Sidney Crosby Sidney Patrick Crosby (born August 7, 1987) is a Canadian professional ice hockey centre and captain of the Pittsburgh Penguins of the National Hockey League (NHL). Nicknamed "Sid the Kid" and dubbed " The Next One", he was selected first o ...

During the 2001-02 season, as a call-up, Crosby played a two-game call-up stint with the Bearcats. Despite minimal playing time, Crosby still managed an assist. In 2002, the Truro Bearcats played in their first

Fred Page Cup The Fred Page Cup is a championship ice hockey trophy, won by a tournament conducted by the Canadian Junior Hockey League. The award is given to the winner of a round-robin and playoff between the Bogart Cup champions of the Central Canada Hoc ...

as the host squad, They made four other appearances three as MJAHL champions, one in 2005, at a tournament hosted in Yarmouth Nova Scotia, and one in 2007

Saint-Jérôme Saint-Jérôme () ( 2021 population 80,213) is a suburban city located about northwest of Montreal on the Rivière du Nord. It is part of the Montreal of Greater Montreal. It is a gateway to the Laurentian Mountains and its resorts via the ...

Quebec. In 2013 the Bearcats hosted the tournament for a second time and a first time at their new home Rath Eastlink Community Centre winning the Final 3-2 in double Overtime against the Summerside Western Capitals. In 2014 The Bearcats made a second consecutive appearance in the

tournament hosted by

Truro captured their third Division Championship and third Provincial Championship in five seasons in 2008/09. The Bearcats would be defeated by the Summerside Western Capitals in the league final four games to one. The 2011-12 season was the Bearcats final full season at the Colchester Legion Stadium.

A new home

The town of Truro and County of Colchester are constructing the new Central Nova Scotia Civic Centre, a rink that is supposed to seat 2600+ spectators. The rink will be the new home of the Bearcats upon completion. The Bearcats will kick off their inaugural season in the new building by hosting the Fred Page Cup for the second time in franchise history (The first being in 2002) . On February 13, 2013 officials from the Rath Eastlink Community Centre confirmed the first home game for the Bearcats would be held on March 2, 2013, and would coincide with the opening of the new facility. The Bearcats are not charging any admission fee to their inaugural game in the community centre, but will be accepting donations to local a charity. Management is hoping for a large crowd in anticipation of the arena finally opening after many delays.

Logo and uniforms

The Truro Bearcats primary logo is large red or black T while their secondary logo features a bearcat jumping. In print, or other media the Bearcats logo consists of a large red T with a small jumping bearcat to the lower right. 2015–present These home and away jerseys were first introduced for use in the 2015-16 season. They are a similar but updated version of the previous design. They keep the history of the team while modernizing the look of the jersey. TruroBearcatsJerseys2015

2009–2015 This jersey unveiled in the 2009-10 season features a large T on the front and the design of the

Boston Bruins The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston. The Bruins compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. The team has been in existence since 1924, making t ...

from 1995-2007. The jersey design is similar to the uniform the Bearcats would have worn in the 1920s and was implemented to bring back some tradition to the community. 1997-2009 The logo is similar to that of the Florida Panthers of the NHL. The Bearcats' old jersey is that of the

Buffalo Sabres The Buffalo Sabres are a professional ice hockey team based in Buffalo, New York. The Sabres compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. The team was established in 1970, along w ...

from 1996/97 - 2005/06.

Seasons and records

Season-by-season results

''Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, OTL = Overtime Losses, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, PIM = Penalties in minutes''

Fred Page Cup

Eastern Canada Championships
'' MHL - QAAAJHL - CCHL - Host''
Round robin play with 2nd vs 3rd in semi-final to advance against 1st in the finals.

Royal Bank Cup

CANADIAN NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
'' Dudley Hewitt Champions - Central, Fred Page Champions - Eastern, Western Canada Cup Champions - Western, Trenton Golden HawksWestern Canada Cup - Runners Up and Host''
Round robin play with top 4 in semi-final and winners to finals.

Franchise records

These are franchise records held by previous team rosters. Figures are updated after each completed MHL regular season. 2014_Truro_Bearcats

Franchise individual records

Franchise scoring leaders

These are the top-ten point-scorers in franchise history. Figures are updated after each completed MHL regular season. ''Note: G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; Season(s) = Seasons played with franchise

Records – skaters

;Career *Most seasons: 5, Travis Moore *Most goals: 97, T.J. Smith *Most assists: 139, Jon Reid *Most points: 200, Stephen Horyl *Most penalty minutes: 675, Donald Johnstone ;Season *Most goals in a season: 47, Kyle Tibbo (2016–17) *Most assists in a season: 63, Dana Fraser (2009–10) *Most points in a season: 90, Dana Fraser (2009–10) *Most penalty minutes in a season: 348, Vincent Muller (2002–03)

Leaders

Team captains

*Robbie Dickson, 1997-1999 *Todd Kennedy, 1999-00 *Alan Dwyer, 2000–01 *Bryant Fraser, 2001–02 *Joel Isenor, 2002–03 *Jim White, 2003–04 *Glenn Frazee, 2004–05 *Matt Beaver, 2005-2007 *Rodi Short, 2007–08 *Sam Hounsell, 2008–09 *Ben MacAskill, 2009–10 *Evan Watts, 2010–11 *Matt English, 2011–12 *Travis Moore, 2012–13 *Phillip Fife, 2013–14 *Brandon Pye (home) and Jake Primeau (road), 2014-2015 *Jimmy Soper, 2015-2016 *Kyle Tibbo, 2016-2017 *Campbell Pickard, 2017-2018 *Dylan Burton, 2018-2019 *Ben Higgins, 2019-2020 *Leon Denny, 2020-2021 *Holden Kodak, 2021-2022

Head coaches

*Steve Crowell, 1997-2001 *Dave Barett, 2001 *Shawn Evans, 2001–present

Honoured members

* David Brine, 2002–03, jersey retired May 3, 2013 * Matt Climie, 2002-2004, jersey retired May 3, 2013 *

Zach Sill Zach Sill (born May 24, 1988) is a Canadian professional ice hockey centreman who is currently playing for Kölner Haie of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL). In North America, he most recently played for the Hershey Bears in the American Hockey ...

, 2005-2007, jersey retired April 17, 2015

League awards

Team awards

Individual awards

Notable alumni

The Truro Bearcats have had many players develop and pass through the organization. Many have gone on to play university hockey and major junior hockey. Truro has also had players move on to play in the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

American Hockey League The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary developmental league for the National Hockey League (NHL). Since the 2010–11 season, every team in the le ...

. * Andrew MacDonald *

* Matt Climie *Mark Cody * David Brine *Franklin MacDonald *Rodi Short *

References

External links

Official Bearcat Web SiteOfficial MHL Web Site
{{Nova Scotia Sports Ice hockey teams in Nova Scotia Maritime Junior Hockey League teams Truro, Nova Scotia Ice hockey clubs established in 1997 1997 establishments in Nova Scotia